Chapter 21 Lucky Number Eight
Lucky Number Eight
The taste of blood was still on Levi’s tongue when consciousness slammed back into him.
He jolted upright, expecting the familiar meadow or van interior, but instead found himself crouched beside a pile of electronic equipment in the Drosselmeyer County Sanitarium’s main lobby. The shock of it—waking up already inside the death trap—sent panic racing through his chest.
Different spawn point. The game is evolving, cutting out the setup time. Fucking fantastic.
Around him, the team was setting up their base camp. Owen was adjusting a thermal camera on its tripod, muttering about electromagnetic interference. Zoe checked battery levels on handheld recorders. The familiar routine felt surreal.
“Levi, you okay?” Tyler called from across the lobby. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Which would be pretty ironic, considering.”
“Just... processing the atmosphere,” Levi managed, forcing his voice to sound normal. The sanitarium’s oppressive weight pressed down on him, every shadow potentially hiding a trap or moving wall.
Asher approached from the left, carrying coils of audio cable. His expression was neutral, the same mild concern he wore in previous loops. But Levi could see the calculation underneath now, the predatory awareness.
“Need help with the recording setup?” Asher asked, his tone collegial. The scripted line, delivered like they were still playing their roles.
“No.” The word came out flat and cold.
Asher’s head tilted, but his neutral mask remained in place. “The audio equipment can be tricky. I’ve got experience with the levels on this particular system.”
“I said no, Asher.”
The sharp dismissal drew glances from across the room. Maddie looked up from organizing EMF detectors, eyebrows raised. “Damn, Levi. What crawled up your ass? He’s just trying to help.”
Levi’s hands stilled on the equipment case latches. How could he explain that every word out of Asher’s mouth was calculated manipulation? That beneath the helpful colleague act was a predator who fingered his mouth while they were dying?
“Just tired,” Levi muttered. “Long night.”
“We all had the same long night,” Elliot pointed out, not looking up from his expensive camera equipment. “Some of us aren’t being dicks about it.”
If only you knew. Levi forced himself to breathe evenly, to maintain the facade. These NPCs, with their programmed personalities and false memories, had no idea what they were really dealing with.
“Maybe he’s picking up residual energy,” Jasper suggested, waving a sage bundle in Levi’s direction. “This place has some seriously dark vibes, man.”
You have no idea.
Asher moved closer, ostensibly to organize cables, but positioned himself within arm’s reach. “You seem tense. More than usual for these investigations.”
The observation, delivered in that same neutral tone, made Levi’s skin crawl. Asher was enjoying this—the shared knowledge, the fact that only they knew what was really happening.
“I’m fine,” Levi said through gritted teeth.
“Are you sure? Because you’re being kind of hostile for no reason.” Asher’s voice held just the right note of confused concern, perfectly calibrated for their audience.
Owen glanced up from his thermal readings. “Statistically speaking, pre-investigation anxiety affects 73% of paranormal researchers. Entirely normal to feel on edge.”
“I’m not on edge,” Levi snapped.
The lobby fell into uncomfortable silence. Everyone was staring now, their confusion and concern palpable. In their programmed reality, this behavior made no sense.
Zoe stepped forward, her expression gentle but worried. “Levi, maybe we should take a break. Get some air before we start the actual investigation.”
“I don’t need air. I need everyone to stop treating me like I’m having a breakdown.”
“Well,” Tyler said, “you kind of are having a breakdown. Or at least acting like it.”
Asher seized the opening, moving closer with that deceptive concern. “Why don’t we step out for a minute? Talk through whatever’s bothering you.”
Like hell. But before Levi could protest, Asher was already moving. Strong hands grabbed his arm, not hard enough to hurt but firm enough that trying to fight felt futile.
“Just for a second,” Asher said to the room, his voice perfectly reasonable. “We can do some breathing exercises.”
The team barely glanced up as Asher steered Levi toward a side corridor, too focused on their equipment setup to pay attention to what looked like a routine work discussion.
Once they were out of sight, Asher’s grip tightened. He pulled Levi into what looked like a small office—empty except for a metal desk and broken filing cabinets.
“Now,” Asher said, closing the door behind them. “Why are you being so mean to me?”
“Are you serious?” Levi backed against the far wall. “You f-fingered my mouth while I was dying and paralyzed.”
“I comforted you,” Asher corrected, stepping closer. “You were scared and in pain, and I wanted our last moments to be—”
“Shut up.” Levi’s voice cracked with fury. “Just shut up. We had rules. Clear boundaries.”
Asher’s head tilted, genuine confusion flickering across his features. “Rules?”
“The temporary alliance. No killing, no touching without permission. We agreed.”
“Oh.” He still looked confused. “You mean when I touched your face while we were dying?”
Touched my face?. Levi felt sick. “Are you kidding me?”
“I was trying to comfort you,” Asher insisted. “You were scared, and I thought—”
“You thought what? That violating someone while they’re paralyzed and dying would be comforting?”
Asher went very still. “That’s not what it was.”
“Then what was it?”
“Intimate. Romantic.” Asher’s voice dropped to something softer, almost tender. “I wanted our last moments together to be special.”
The disconnect between Asher’s perception and reality was staggering. He genuinely believed that what he’d done was a romantic gesture.
Levi drew back his fist and punched Asher square in the nose.
The crack of cartilage breaking filled the small office. Blood poured down Asher’s face, but instead of anger, he looked... pleased. Almost fond.
“We discussed rules,” Levi said, his knuckles throbbing. “Clear boundaries. No touching without permission.”
Asher dabbed at his nose. “Well, we were dying. I thought maybe we could make it more fun.”
The logic was so fundamentally broken that Levi just stared at him. “Fun? You thought dying was supposed to be fun?”
“Not the dying part,” Asher clarified. “The intimacy part. The connection. I wanted to share something with you before we—”
“No touching without permission,” Levi repeated slowly, as if speaking to a child. “That was the rule. It didn’t have exceptions for dying or fun or whatever you call intimacy.”
Asher’s expression shifted into something that looked almost like a pout. He stepped closer, pressing into Levi’s personal space.
“Are you sure about that rule?” he asked, his voice dropping to that intimate register. “Because I think there might be some... flexibility. Depending on circumstances.”
Levi drove his elbow hard into Asher’s solar plexus. The impact sent Asher stumbling backward, doubled over and gasping.
“No flexibility,” Levi snapped.
For a moment, Asher stayed bent over, catching his breath. Then he straightened with a grin that was all teeth.
“Okay,” he said cheerfully, as if they’d just negotiated a business deal. “Rules are rules.”
The easy acceptance, delivered with that disturbing smile, made Levi edge closer to the door.
“We should get back,” Levi said warily.
“In a minute.” Asher wiped the last of the blood from his nose, still grinning. “I like this version of you. Feisty.”
But before Asher could say more, the sound of grinding metal echoed through the building. The front doors they entered through were sealing shut with mechanical precision.
From the lobby came shouts of alarm as the team realized they were trapped.
“We need to get back,” Levi said, pushing past Asher toward the door.
But as he reached for the handle, Asher’s hand slammed against the door frame, blocking his exit.
“Not yet,” Asher said. “I want to finish our conversation.”
“There’s nothing to finish. The building’s active now. The team needs—”
“The team will be fine for a few more minutes.” Asher’s other hand came up to brace against the opposite side of the frame, caging Levi in. “I want to know if we’re still allies.”
Levi stared up at him, trapped between the door and Asher’s larger frame. “Are we?”
“That depends on you.” Asher’s voice was soft, almost gentle. “I’ve agreed to your rules. No touching without permission. But that goes both ways, doesn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you want my cooperation, if you want me to help keep your little friends alive, then maybe you should consider being a little nicer to me.”
The threat, delivered in that reasonable tone, made Levi’s blood run cold. “Are you saying you’ll kill them if I’m not nice enough?”
“I’m saying I might not try as hard to save them. Accidents happen, after all. Floors collapse. People get separated in the dark.”
Fuck.
A sharp knock on the door interrupted them. “Asher? You okay in there?” Zoe’s voice carried through the wood, concerned. “We heard a noise.”
Asher didn’t move from where he was caging Levi against the door. “I’m fine. Just having a work discussion.”
“Well, the building’s doing something weird,” Zoe called. “Doors are sealing. We need to regroup.”
“Be right there,” Asher replied, but his eyes stayed locked on Levi’s face.
The sound of Zoe’s footsteps retreated, but the interruption broke the moment. Asher stepped back slowly, giving Levi space to breathe.
“Think about what I said,” Asher mumbled, then opened the door.
They returned to the lobby to find controlled chaos. The team was clustered around their equipment, voices tight with barely contained panic.
“Thank God,” Owen said when he saw them. “The whole building just... sealed itself. Front doors, emergency exits, even some of the interior corridors.”
Maddie looked up as they approached, her eyes focusing on Asher’s face. “Jesus, what happened to your nose? You’re bleeding.”
“Walked into a door frame,” Asher said, dabbing at the blood with his sleeve. “These old buildings, narrow doorways.”
Tyler squinted at him suspiciously. “That’s a lot of blood for walking into a door.”
“I have a deviated septum,” Asher shrugged. “Bleeds easily.”
Levi kept his expression neutral, but he could feel Asher’s amusement at the lie.
“It’s like it’s containing us,” Maddie added, her usual flirtatiousness replaced by fear.
Containing us. The word choice made Levi’s skin crawl, remembering Dr. Faine’s research. But he couldn’t tell them about the journal, about the building’s true purpose. Every time he tried to explain the loops before, the NPCs dismissed him as having a breakdown.
“Could be a security malfunction,” Levi said instead, falling back into his role as team leader. “Old buildings sometimes have automated systems that activate when—”
“When what?” Elliot interrupted. “When they detect trespassers? Because that’s what we are, technically.”
“We have permission to be here,” Tyler pointed out. “The property management company cleared our investigation.”
Did they? Levi wondered. In this programmed reality, probably. But it didn’t matter what permissions they thought they had.
“Either way,” Zoe said pragmatically, “we’re here now. And since we can’t leave...” She gestured at their equipment setup. “Maybe we should do what we came to do.”
“You want to investigate?” Owen asked, looking around the oppressive lobby. “While we’re trapped?”
“What else are we going to do? Sit here and panic?” Zoe’s voice was steady, reassuring. “We came here to document paranormal activity. The building sealing itself could be part of that.”
Levi felt a spark of hope. Maybe that’s it. Maybe we need to actually be paranormal investigators instead of victims.
Play the game properly instead of trying to break it.
“She’s right,” he said, surprising everyone, including himself. “We have all our equipment. We know the building layout. Let’s treat this like a real investigation.”
“A real investigation?” Maddie looked at him like he had lost his mind. “L-Levi, we’re trapped in a place that just sealed itself. This isn’t exactly standard ghost hunting protocol.”
“Since when is any ghost hunt standard?” Asher asked. “Might as well embrace the experience.”
There was something in his tone—amusement, maybe, or anticipation. Like he was curious to see how this approach would play out.
“Fine,” Elliot said, hefting his expensive camera. “But if this place tries to kill us, I’m blaming all of you.”
It probably will try to kill us, Levi thought. But maybe if we play by its rules...
“Thermal readings show activity on the second floor,” Owen reported, consulting his tablet. “East wing. That’s where we should start.”
“Together,” Levi emphasized. “Standard protocol. We stick together in groups, document everything, and don’t go anywhere alone, no matter what.”
“Agreed,” Zoe said. “Safety in numbers.”
As they gathered their equipment and prepared to venture deeper into the sanitarium, Levi caught Asher watching him.
“This should be interesting,” Asher murmured, just loud enough for Levi to hear.
Interesting. That was one word for it. Levi shouldered his bag, Dr. Faine’s journal a reassuring weight in his pocket.
Think like a player. Play the game the way it wants to be played.
Maybe that was the key to finding a way out.